This invention relates to a method for discharging a high-pressure gas-occluding liquid from its pressureproof container in a form no longer containing said high-pressure gas into an outside space under normal pressure and to a device used for the purpose of said method.
In many high-pressure chemical reactions, there frequently arises necessity for discharging a high-pressure liquid containing a reaction product and residues from a pressureproof reaction system into an outside space under normal pressure.
Such a high-pressure liquid as described above occludes therein a high-pressure gas. When this liquid is directly discharged into an outside space under normal pressure, the ensuing pressure drop causes the gas occluded in the liquid to separate itself suddenly from the liquid. If the gas happens to be inflammable, then the impact of the sudden separation can cause unexpected trouble or the phenomenon of foaming in the liquid and consequent overflowing of the liquid out of the container. Numerous measures have so far been proposed for the prevention of these accidents. For example, there is a method whereby the liquid maintained under a high pressure is passed through one or more steps of valves to have the pressure of the liquid successively decreased. In this case, the valves undergo violent wear caused by the erosive action of the fluid and, therefore, fail to function stably for any appreciable length of time, notwithstanding they are used in conjunction with such accessorial items as spindles and valve seats specially designed for use under extremely high pressure. For this reason, there is generally adopted a batchwise method which comprises introducing a given high-pressure liquid without any change in pressure into a first high-pressure container, decreasing the pressure inside said high-pressure container and thereafter transferring the liquid of a lowered pressure, without any change in pressure, from within the first container into a second normal-pressure container.
A primary object of this invention is to provide a method which permits a high-pressure gas-containing liquid to be continuously discharged in a form no longer containing the high-pressure gas into an outside space under normal pressure more simply and easily than by any conventional method.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a device which enables a high-pressure gas-containing liquid to be continuously discharged in a form no longer containing the high-pressure gas into an outside space under normal pressure more simply and easily than by any conventional device.